Selfie craze coincides with tourist spike

An article on The Huffington Post website seemed to kickstart the online quokka selfie craze in 2012.

Since then, the number of tourists visiting Rottnest has increased by 20 per cent.

The Rottnest Island Authority's (RIA) Holly Knight said the marsupials had seen a meteoric rise in popularity from when early Europeans first arrived on the island in 1658 and mistook them for huge rats.

"Now they're one of the most well-known animals on social media," Ms Knight said.

"It's an incredibly friendly animal that attracts more and more international visitors every year."

While the RIA had been unable to draw a direct link between the internet trend and tourist numbers, it suspects the quokka has become the island's biggest drawcard.

"We know that there's a huge community out there on social media who say they're coming to the island to see the quokka," Ms Knight said.

'Opportunity to protect the island'

RIA marketing coordinator Natasha Marti has been monitoring the level of online engagement around the animal and the quokka selfie phenomenon.

Ms Marti said stories of animal cruelty always generated a huge public reaction and an outpouring of support for quokkas, and the work being done on the island to protect them.

"We would never want to capitalise on any bad situation, but if we can use that to leverage a positive message then we would aim to do that," she said.

Marketing experts and scientists will come together on Thursday for the island's first-ever quokka symposium, to discuss ways to harness the online popularity of the marsupial to boost tourism and conservation.

Ms Phillips said she was confident that provided tourists treated the quokkas with respect, the animal would continue to be one of the happiest in the world.

"If we get more tourists coming over to Western Australia and to Rottnest Island, that provides more funding for research and protection of the quokka into the future," she said.

"As long as people aren't touching or feeding the quokkas to get their selfies, it's good."